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Diabetic retinopathy screening and treatment in Myanmar: a pilot study

2017; BMJ; Volume: 1; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1136/bmjophth-2017-000084

2397-3269

Sarju Patel, Richard M. Klein, Arun Patel, R. Klein, Mya Aung, Wilbert Hoe,

Retinopathy of Prematurity Studies

The goals of this pilot study were (a) to demonstrate the feasibility of identifying patients with vision-threatening diabetic retinopathy (DR) in a provincial area of Myanmar and treating them with portable lasers and (b) to gather data specific to Myanmar to help design larger cross-sectional studies of DR prevalence in Myanmar.97 consecutive patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) were identified by local ophthalmologists over a period of 1 month in Pyinmana, Myanmar and were referred to the pilot screening programme. Patients' demographics were recorded and their eyes were examined. Those with vision-threatening DR were treated with panretinal photocoagulation (PRP).Of the 97 patients with DM, 33 (34%) had evidence of DR, 23 (23.5%) had evidence of vision-threatening DR including 13 (13.5%) with proliferative DR and 33 eyes in 23 patients (23.5%) had PRP with portable green wavelength laser. Hypertension was a significant cofactor in the development of vision-threatening DR (p<0.01). The average time since diagnosis of DM was 6.0 years in patients with vision-threatening DR.This study demonstrates the feasibility of identifying and treating patients with vision-threatening DR in a provincial area of Myanmar and provides initial data to plan a larger study to assess true prevalence, a prerequisite for establishing broader screening/treatment programs.